Friday, 19 September 2003
How to Peel an Apple? On modeling continuous action
Thomas Müller, University of Bonn
12:05 pm, 817R Cathedral of Learning
Abstract: Some things we do we do instantaneously:
we throw the switch and turn on the light. Other things, such as
peeling an apple, take more time. When we begin to peel an apple,
we do not start an automatic process that will see to it that the
apple is peeled. Rather, we decide to peel it completely, but we
may still change our mind and stop at any moment.How should a model
for such continuous action look like? How many indeterministic "choice
points" are involved? It seems implausible to assume that we
make continuously many decisions, choosing to continue at every
moment, but a single decision will not do either.In my talk, I want
to shed some light on the problem of continuous action by comparing
such action with the dynamics of physical systems. My point will
be that some indeterministic models of physical systems seem to
exhibit a structure that is quite similar to that of continuous
action.
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